Red Wings looking to finish off road trip with another win

DETROIT - After a 4-2 setback on home ice to the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday, March 20, the importance of the Wings' ensuing four-game road trip became more crucial.

And, so far, the four-game road trip has been an overwhelming success.

The Wings head into the trip's final game Thursday in San Jose riding a three-game winning streak.

"We knew it was going to be important for us," forward Henrik Zetterberg said. "That game against Minny we lost at home stung a little bit; and we knew this road trip was even more important. We wanted to have a good start. We got the first three and we just want to finish it off on Thursday."

In fact the Wings have won five straight on the road.

"It definitely feels good right now," defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. "We're in good shape. At the same time we've got another game (Thursday), don't get too confident, we've got some work to do, that we can do better."

The Wings have trailed in four of their last five road games.

"In the beginning of the season there were a lot of times when other teams went up a goal or two and we just kind of couldn't find any energy to go after them again," Kronwall said. "Now it feels like we just keep going no matter what the score is."

Detroit trailed Phoenix 2-1 after a period before scoring a power-play goal late in the second period and then another power-play goal six minutes into the third period to skate off with a 3-2 win.

"I don't know about that," Kronwall said when asked if he thinks the Wings have finally turned the corner. "There are a lot of things we can do better but we're definitely moving in the right direction. We've just got to stick with it."

Detroit is now 8-6-2 on the road.

"The big thing that's happened, for a long time we didn't win on the road, but we didn't have (Valtteri) Filppula and (Johan) Franzen. Joakim Andersson had come up and it took him a while to become an NHL player and obviously our D's gotten better," Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "It wasn't our thought at the start of the year that these young defensemen would be playing. It's just the way it worked. It took us some time. But I think it's getting better and we've just got to keep finding ways to win games."

The Wings' current success on the road could easily go hand-in-hand with how hot their power play has been of late.

Detroit has scored a power-play goal in eight straight games, six of which have been on the road.

"Our specialty teams in the first 10 games were awful both the power play and the penalty kill," Babcock said. "We got a change in staff and also have a bunch of different players. So when you put it all together it takes some time. I thought it was coming but it never really went in the net for us and now it's going in the net and it's a big part of today's game.

"When you're shooting the puck and getting it back you have a way better chance," Babcock added. "We had way more possession time."

The Wings began the season 0-for-37 on the power play on the road.

"It's more puck luck," Zetterberg said of the Wings' recent success with the man advantage. "The puck is bouncing after shots to our sticks instead of their sticks. We're getting more retrievals. It's just little things. I don't think we've changed that much. It's just that the puck goes in, you get more confidence and you make the right decisions."

"I think we've been doing some good things, even before that," Kronwall said. "Even when the puck wasn't going in we were doing a lot of good things. Right now we're shooting the puck and getting the pucks back. We're entering the zone and we're doing a lot of things right. We got good looks even though we don't score on each and every one. It definitely feels like we got something going."

Detroit's power play currently ranks 17th in the league, scoring 17.6 percent of the time.

"I'd like to say, one thing I'm noticing is we're shooting a little more, the defensemen are thinking shots a little bit more and I think that we're a little more aggressive in getting rebounds back," forward Daniel Cleary said. "That's been big for us, making sure we get a second and third opportunity."